OXFORD: The Bullingdon

Tuesday 10th March, 2020

7:30pm

Event information

Jesse Malin, whom the London Times says “writes vivid songs with killer tunes and sings them with scary conviction”, and Lucinda Williams, the southern troubadour once named “America’s best songwriter” by Time magazine — first met in the early 2000s at a jazz club in NYC’s West Village. In a joint 2017 Rolling Stone interview, the two discussed their “shared love of miscreants, misfits, the misunderstood and the mysteries of everyday lives bind them across the Mason-Dixon line.”

“From the early frontier days of hard-core in New York to all the punk rock and singer/songwriter touring,” says Malin, “it’s all been about survival and reinvention. I wanted to make an open-sounding record with the space to tell these stories. I like to write about characters and people I meet along the way. The dreamers, schemers, hustlers, romantics, lovers, leavers and believers.” Many of the dreamers, schemers and so on from Jesse’s own life contribute to ‘Sunset Kids’, his new album of highly personal songs being released August 30th on Wicked Cool Records.

‘Sunset Kids’ first took shape at The Hollywood Bowl, when Jesse accepted Lucinda’s invitation to see her open for what turned out to be Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ final concert. The bittersweet experience inspired one of the new album’s highlights, “Shining Down,” a rainy day jangle about “keeping alive the spirits of the ones we’ve lost.” During that same visit, the idea came about of three-time Grammy-winning Lucinda producing Jesse’s next record.

A native New York City singer / songwriter born out of a hard-core punk and rock & roll background, Jesse Malin has played and toured since the age of 12. He is a streetwise storyteller, whose characters and slice of life lyrics portray a world of unsung heroes, helpless romantics and rock & roll survivors. Comparisons are often made to artists such as Neil Young, Lou Reed, Paul Westerberg, Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Lenny Bruce and Martin Scorsese.